SERMON XVIII.

CHRISTIAN CONSOLATIONS.

PSALM CVIII. 12.

GIVE US HELP FROM TROUBLE, FOR VAIN IS THE HELP OF MAN.

"MAN is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward." It belongs to his nature, it attends his condition from the cradle to the grave. It is not his uniform lot, it does not form the law and complexion of his being. Far from it. His lot is good, his heritage is pleasant. The world is bright before him, and his path strewed with blessings. It is wrong to talk of this as a dark world, as if we were always under a cloud, and the light of enjoyment were rare and scattered. The true image of life is that of a pleasant day, when nature is bright and all things cheerful, but which is liable at any moment to be overcast with clouds, interrupted by tempests, and closed in distress.

The longer one lives in the world, and has experience of the various allotments of Providence, the more sensible is he of the truth of this remark. Here and there, indeed, we find a man whose lot has been signally dark, or whose temper is gloomy, who can see nothing cheerful or desirable on earth. He speaks of life as one long evil, and earth as no better than a tedious prison. Here and there, too, we find a man wonderfully favored in health, spirits, and prosperity, to whom life is joyous, without change, and

earth a paradise, without thorn or cloud.

But these all are

rare instances. The majority of men, as they pass along, year after year, are partakers of vicissitudes which teach them more truly that life is a scene of mingled good and evil; and as time cools the vivacity of youthful hope on the one hand, and soothes the severity of disappointed expectations on the other, they learn that the texture and general habit of existence is happy, but that evil is always nigh; that blessing outweighs calamity—yet that calamity is never far off. Hence, if religiously disposed, there grows up within them that salutary mixture of cheerful enjoyment and watchful sobriety, which constitutes the equanimity of the Christian temper that perpetual gratitude for a Father's smile, and that perpetual submission to a Father's chastening, which make up the quiet beauty of filial trust.

Of the troubles, however, which interrupt the course of life, which break in on our plans, which darken our dwellings, which change the present aspect of the world, it has been kindly appointed that there shall be many alleviations. For every disease there is a remedy; for every wound there is a balm; for every sorrow a consolation. Some of these are to be found in our very make and constitution, which God has so curiously fitted to accommodate itself to circumstances and situation. Some are found in the soothing power of time, which quiets the grief it cannot remedy; some in the sympathy and benevolence of friends, whom the common Father has placed around us as the representatives of his own love, to help in bearing the burdens of existence, and to strengthen our spirit, under the weight of evil. In these, and other alleviations provided for human misery in the original constitution of things and order of our social relations, how visible the care of a kind Parent, watchful for the well-being of his

offspring! - especially watchful in that he never leaves us alone, but through their hands administers to us the needed aid, so that our thankful thoughts often find utterance in the words of the poet,

"Thy bounteous hand with worldly bliss

Hath made my cup run o'er,

And in a kind and faithful friend

Hath doubled all my store."

But there are some trials which the constitution of nature, the balm of time, and the sympathy of men, cannot reach. There are some depths of grief, to which no voice of friendship, no eloquence of human consolation, can penetrate. The language of condolence is but an empty sound, which enters in at the ear, but dies away, cold and unmeaning, whilst the mourner wishes that his comforters would sit down by him, like the friends of Job on their first arrival, and hold their peace, even from good. For this severity of affliction there is but one spring open of effectual peace. It is that which David sought, when he cried out in our text, "Give thou me help from trouble, for vain is the help of man." He had known what it was to have all the sources of earthly delight dried away; desertion, bereavement, and desolation, had in all forms come upon him, and he turned from pleasure, from wealth, from friends, even- they could do nothing to relieve him; miserable comforters were they all to the full and sufficient strength of the God of hosts.

The great truth to which David thus testified in his life, and which he uttered in our text, is still a great and universal truth, under the more illustrious light of the gospel. There is no sufficient source of consolation for man except in religion. True help, in time of trial, comes from God.

How beautifully is this declared by the prophet, "Thou

wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee"! How strikingly by another prophet, "Though all temporal evil overwhelm me, still will I rejoice in the Lord; I will joy in the God of my salvation"! How was it verified to the worthies of the ancient covenant, Abraham, Job, and Daniel, and to the messengers of the new, when, in dungeons and prisons, they could sing praises to God, and cry out trustingly, "We are persuaded that none of these things can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord"! How was it verified in the history of our blessed Lord himself, the Captain of our salvation, who " was made perfect through suffering; who, when, with strong cries and tears, he had offered himself to God, was heard in that he feared," and was strengthened by an angel, and by more than an angel's peace, for the dreadful hour that could not pass from him!

All the teaching, therefore, and all the experience of holy men, and of the blessed Redeemer, persuade us that our true help in trial must come from God.

And how is it to come from God?

1. It comes through faith. The heart which believes in God, and believes in Christ, ceases to be troubled; for it does not look at the event alone, but at the hidden purposes which it is to answer in the counsels of Providence, and the revelations concerning these purposes which have been brought by Jesus Christ. Thus the mind is occupied by something extrinsic to the immediate cause of mourning, and lifted up to the great First Cause. In contemplating that great First Cause, it is impossible to discern any thing but infinite wisdom and essential benignity. Whatever is done, is with the kindest design, and for the most desirable end. It is impossible there should be in it error or ill-will; but the most mysterious dealings, to the watch

ful eye of faith, which knows how to interpret them, have a light and a meaning, which give tranquillity to the disturbed spirit. It is distrust which is unsettled, perplexed, distressed; it is distrust which sits down repining, and beats the breast, and refuses to be comforted. Faith rises, and lifts up its head; there may be a tear in its eye, but there is steadfastness in its heart, and with unconquerable serenity it gazes upward, till, piercing the clouds and darkness which surround the eternal throne, it discerns the righteousness and mercy which are its foundation. It does not doubt that all is right, for it relies on divine wisdom. It does not doubt that all will be well, for it confides in perfect love; and, taking up the words of the apostle, it says, "We have had fathers of the flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence; shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?" and "if he spared not his own Son, shall he not with him freely give us all things?"

Thus does God send down help through faith.

In the next place, he adds to it through prayer. Prayer is the act of faith. The confiding child that has stood .gazing upward to a parent's seat, contemplating and adoring, at length opens his mouth and speaks. The fire kindles within, and his glowing thoughts utter themselves unto God. Thus it was with Jesus, when he rejoiced in spirit at the success of his ministry, and cried, "Father, I thank thee;" when he groaned in spirit at the tomb of Lazarus, and cried, "Father, I thank thee;" when he drew near to the agony of death, and exclaimed, "Father, glorify thy name." And so, too, his friends, who walk in his faith, at every changing season of their pilgrimage, call upon God. It is the natural and dutiful expression of their filial trust. It augments and gives vigor to that trust.